October is Children’s Health Month and the EPA is providing parents simple tips they can use to help protect children.
“As both EPA Administrator and a mother, I understand the importance of protecting our children from environmental threats,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Throughout Children’s Health Month, we will work to help parents and caretakers ensure the safety of our children and build a safer, cleaner, more sustainable world for their future.”
Children eat, drink and breathe more per pound than adults. When food, water or air is polluted, children are more affected by that pollution when compared to adults. These concerns about children’s health are a driving force behind many of EPA’s programs, policies and regulatory activities.
There are simple steps that parents and other caregivers can take to protect children from environmental health hazards in their surrounding daily environment.
Here are some simple steps that can be taken to help keep children safe and healthy:
- Discover how climate change may affect the health of children, and how reducing energy helps the climate and reduces air pollution.
- Have a health care provider or local health department test children’s blood lead levels.
- Wash floors and window sills to remove dust and peeling lead-based paint, especially in older homes, where lead based paint is more likely to be found. Repair peeling or chipping paint in older homes.
- Reduce asthma attacks by controlling triggers such as pet dander, mold and second-hand smoke.
- Don’t expose children to cigarette, cigar or pipe smoke at home or in a car.
- Check the local public water supplier for annual drinking water quality reports. Have private water wells tested annually by a certified laboratory.
- Store pesticides and other chemicals in a locked cabinet. Never put them in other containers that can be mistaken for food or drink.
- Replace mercury thermometers with digital or mercury-free thermometers.
- Homes should be tested for radon, as it is the second leading cause of lung cancer.
More tips: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/calendar.htm
photo credit: broma
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Wonderful work here. What a lovely and helpful site. So exciting to see this. And this post is great for parents…for all of us. Thank you soooooo much.
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I would add to the list that parents PLEASE use alternatives so herbicides and pesticides and other toxic chemicals. And that they NOT use ANY toxic chemicals at all. Nowadays there is no reason to have ANY toxic chemicals in the home. There are alternative to all toxic products. One may have to dig around on the internet and order them online, but it is SO worth it for your kids.
I would also suggest that parents wash ALL food, even organic produce because I read somewhere that toxic pesticides and herbicides can drift hundreds of miles and land on organic farms, and still be just as toxic.
Thank you for caring and creating awareness.
Robin
Robin,
Excellent point. We should all take responsibility for ourselves and our children. We’ve learned that we can’t rely on companies or our government to keep our food safe, we must do it ourselves. It’s the right thing to do. Thanks for the comment!
The reason I live a green lifestyle is because my first born was ill effected by chemicals.
I’m sorry to hear that Beth. Keep up the good fight, not only for your own, but for all children.